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Senator Coons appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Friday to talk about his bipartisan work in the Senate to help innovative startups grow and create jobs. Between 1980 and 2005, all net new jobs created in the U.S. were created by firms five years old or less. Watch below.

From Roll Call: Senator Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and Congressional Manufacturing Caucus, authored an op-ed that appeared in Tuesday’s edition of Roll Call on the need for an R&D tax credit for innovative start-up businesses.

Over the past three decades, the research and development tax credit has helped tens of thousands of successful American companies create jobs by incentivizing investment in innovation. There is little doubt that it has strengthened our economy and deserves to be made permanent. But with America’s global manufacturing competitiveness at stake, it’s time Congress shows the same type of support for entrepreneurs and young companies.

Small and startup businesses are driving our nation’s economic recovery and creating jobs by taking risks to turn their ideas into marketable products. Over the past few decades, firms that were younger than five years old were responsible for the overwhelming majority of new jobs in this country.

There are plenty of federal programs designed to help traditional small businesses — retail stores, service providers, restaurants and others — grow from employing one person to employing 10 people, but how do we help the “gazelle” companies reach their potential and grow from employing five people to employing 50? Or 500? Or 5,000?

For these innovators to grow and create jobs, we have to support them in their critical early stages.

Senator Coons went to the Senate floor this afternoon to lay out an idea he's been working on to help entrepreneurs and the leaders of young businesses to grow their companies by investing in research and development.

The Research and Development Tax Credit has helped incentivize innovation at established businesses for 30 years, which is why Chris is such an ardent supporter of the credit and has twice introduced legislation to make it permanent. The problem is, young companies that aren't yet profitable can't benefit from the tax credit.

So how can the federal government help those businesses grow and create jobs?

Chris' idea would create a tradable version of the R&D Tax Credit. Innovative young companies looking to expand their research and development efforts would be eligible for this "innovation credit," which they would then be able to sell to a bigger, more established company. The bigger company gets the tax credit, while the young company gets a cash infusion.

It's win-win.

In his remarks Monday afternoon, Chris talked about two innovative Delaware companies that might be able to utilize such a tradable credit like this — Elcriton in New Castle and Evozym in Newark. You can watch the speech above or click here to read the full transcript.

After working for eight years at a materials-based science company, Senator Coons was especially interested in plans for investing in scientific research and development laid out by President Obama in his State of the Union address this week.

Chris supports these investments not only because they can improve our quality of life, but because they strengthen our economy by creating jobs across Delaware. In his first piece of legislation, the Job Creation Through Innovation Act, he called for increasing and making permanent the tax credit companies get for research and development, an idea strongly supported by a News Journal editorial. The permanence of the tax credit is especially important, since many projects have multi-year planning horizons and companies need the certainty for long-term planning in order to invest and create jobs in Delaware.

The formula for America’s economic success has long been the unstoppable combination of an innovative citizenry and investment in cutting-edge research. President Obama called on Congress directly to protect that vital investment, even in tough economic times. He urged “don’t gut these investments in our budget. Don’t let other countries win the race for the future. Support the same kind of research and innovation that led to the computer chip and the Internet; to new American jobs and new American industries.”

On Wednesday, The Wilmington News Journal published an editorial endorsing the bipartisan job creation bill introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The American Growth, Recovery and Economic Empowerment (AGREE) Act contains measures from both sides of the aisle — policies that tend to be associated with one party or another, but which Senator Rubio and Senator Coons agree can support job creation in the United States.

Who says bipartisan compromise is impossible?

Two freshman senators don't think so. Chris Coons of Delaware and Marco Rubio of Florida have bridged the gap between Senate Democrats and Republicans to propose an admittedly small-scale but doable jobs bill.

They have taken some of the best bipartisan ideas for tax and regulation relief put forth by their colleagues in the House and Senate and put them in a single bill that has the look of a winner. It won't solve all of our problems, but it would be a good start.

Their philosophy is simple: Why not act on the things they agree on?

Democrat Coons and Republican Rubio recognize that the partisan differences in Congress are wide. But the continuing problem of unemployment -- 14 million Americans out of work -- should force Congress to put aside the squabbling to pass proposals they already agree on.

For example, the bill would extend certain depreciation breaks and provide some Sarbanes-Oxley reporting relief for small businesses. The bill also would give businesses that produce goods in this country a higher research-and-development credit. If Congress doesn't act soon, the current R&D tax credit expires at the end of December.

Sens. Coons and Rubio have proposed a mix of their and borrowed ideas that should be acceptable to big majorities in both houses of Congress.

If enough members agree, why can't this or a similar bill be passed?

Not to do so is only further proof of a spiteful partisanship.

Congratulations to Sens. Coons and Rubio for ... well, working together. It's something American people want and expect from our leaders.

Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) hosted at a press conference on Tuesday to unveil their bipartisan bill to support job creation — the American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship (AGREE) Act. The AGREE Act stems from areas of common agreement between the President’s jobs plan, recommendations from the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and plans put forward by both parties in Congress.

If enacted, the AGREE Act would do the following:

Extend 100 percent bonus depreciation through 2012 for the full cost of qualified investments such as equipment and property.

Extend Section 179 expensing levels for small businesses through 2012.

Eliminate taxes on certain small business stock through 2012.

Extend the Research & Development tax credit until 2013, increase the Alternative Simplified Credit (ASC) from 14 percent to 20 percent, and makes the ASC permanent.

Provide veterans with a tax credit equal to 25% of the fee associated with starting a franchise up to $100,000.

Provide a five-year exemption from Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley for the first five years of a company going public, or for those below $250 million in total gross revenue (whichever comes first).

Eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrant visas and adjusts the limitations on family based visa petitions from 7% per country to 15%.

Protect intellectual property by clarifying the Trade Secrets Act, and making it explicitly clear that it is not a crime for federal officials, in the performance of their duties, to share information about suspected infringing products with the right holder of a trademarked good.

On Tuesday, Politico published an op-ed coauthored by Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on their bipartisan legislation to encourage job creation, which was also introduced on Tuesday. The American Growth, Recovery and Economic Empowerment (AGREE) Act contains measures from both sides of the aisle — policies that tend to be associated with one party or another, but which Senator Rubio and Senator Coons agree can support job creation in the United States.

As freshman senators from states hit hard by the recession, we believe Congress can’t afford to spend the next year spinning its wheels — scoring political points in a debate that is more about protecting political jobs in 2012 elections than getting the jobless back to work. We should unite behind policy ideas we all agree on and that would likely be signed into law if we stop letting politics get in the way.

Today we are introducing legislation that includes some of these ideas. Our bill would extend tax relief for small businesses — to help them purchase new equipment so they can grow and create jobs. It includes modernizing and improving the research and development tax credit; encouraging hiring of returning veterans and reforming burdensome regulations.

It will take steps toward boosting high-skilled legal immigration, so we can attract and retain talented individuals with extraordinary capacities, to create high-paying jobs in America. It will also protect our businesses against the illegal theft of intellectual property, with strict enforcement of laws already on the books.

Our plan borrows heavily from legislation introduced by both parties and in both chambers of Congress — Republicans in the House, and Democrats in the Senate. All the provisions have garnered bipartisan support in today’s political climate, and all would help encourage job creation today.

This morning, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and I introduced the American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Act — the AGREE Act — to help our businesses grow, create jobs, and put our neighbors back to work.

The AGREE Act contains measures from both sides of the aisle — policies that tend to be associated with one party or another, but which Senator Rubio and I agree can support job creation in the United States. Policies like extending tax and regulatory relief for America’s growing businesses, and encouraging cutting-edge research and innovation. The bill would also help veterans start their own businesses, and reduce the barriers that prevent highly skilled workers who have studied here from staying here.

I’m happy to be able to mark the one-year anniversary of my being sworn into the Senate with something reflective of my top three priorities — helping create jobs for Americans, doing so in a bipartisan way, and cutting our deficit via strong economic growth.

We can dwell on the partisan politics that have gridlocked this body and this town for much of our first year in office, continuing to trade barbs and exchange blame, or we can look forward and find ways we can work together.

Congress cannot sit on the sidelines and leave Americans to confront this jobs crisis on their own. That’s why I organized three job fairs throughout Delaware during my first year in office to help connect 5,000 of our neighbors with employers ready to hire.

Democrats and Republicans need to work together to help America's unemployed. We need to help our businesses grow, create jobs, and that’s what the AGREE Act is designed to do.

Delaware's largest newspaper, the News Journal, on Saturday published an editorial voicing support for the Job Creation Through Innovation Act -- Senator Coons' first bill, which he introduced last week.

"By increasing the R&D tax credit from 14 percent to 20 percent and making it refundable, the "little guy" has an incentive to be innovative in markets ruled by bigger companies," the paper wrote.

"Being able to quickly hire workers to design products and conduct quality assurance testing also recycles some of that tax credit back into local economies."

Senator Coons' first bill, the Job Creation Through Innovation Act, will help jumpstart domestic manufacturing and create conditions to help businesses grow and create high-quality, high-paying middle-class jobs. Here are answers to seven key questions about the bill:

Q: What will this bill to do help Delaware?

The Job Creation Through Innovation Act will help Delaware businesses innovate, create jobs and stay globally competitive. First, it increases and makes permanent the research and development tax credit. It creates a Domestic Manufacturing Credit to provide an incentive for companies to invest and create jobs here at home. Right now many new, small businesses are ineligible for the R&D tax credit because they aren’t profitable yet, so this bill creates a new Small Business Innovation credit to provide tax relief to these businesses. Finally, it extends two programs created by the Recovery Act designed to promote clean energy technology and investment.These incentives were heavily used and critical to energy project developers and Delaware manufacturers, as well as to the production of clean and green energy, and the expansion and retrofit of clean and green production capacity.

Q: Why is a permanent R&D tax credit needed?

The R&D tax credit has beentemporarily extended 14 times since it was enacted 30 years ago and it is currently set to expire at the end of the year. This lack of permanence is problematic. Many R&D projects have multi-year planning horizons. If firms aren’t assured they will benefit from the credit over the expected life of an R&D project, they are unlikely to include it in their determination of annual R&D budgets. This renders the credit essentially irrelevant, given its purpose is to incentivize firms to invest more in R&D than they otherwise would have.

Q: Why is research and development important to the U.S.?

The formula for our economic success has long been the unstoppable combination of an innovative citizenry and investment in cutting-edge research. This is what generates companies that invent new products, often high-tech and research-driven products, and, along with these, create skilled jobs right here in the United States. Many of these jobs are in the manufacturing sector. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, the average manufacturing worker in our country earned roughly twenty-five percent more than workers in all other sectors – that’s over seventy-two thousand dollars last year, including pay and benefits, while the average non-manufacturing worker earned less than fifty-nine thousand. Manufacturing jobs, created as a result of R&D investment and innovation, mean higher wages and better benefits.

Q: How does the Domestic Manufacturing Credit work? How would you target this at manufacturers?

The provision incentivizes keeping jobs in the United States by increasing the existing R&D tax credit for companies that produce most of their goods domestically. The Domestic Manufacturing Credit would increase incrementally to reward a higher percentage of domestic production – an additional 2 percentage points for 50% to 60% of sales from domestically-produced goods; up to a 10 percentage point increase for companies with 90% to 100% of their receipts from domestic production. For example, a company with 100 percent domestic production that would normally receive a 20% R&D tax credit would receive a 30% credit under this proposal.

Q: Why does the legislation include a new Small Business Innovation Credit?

Under current law, the R&D tax credit is non-refundable, which is to say that only profitable firms can benefit from credit. This poses a special problem for small, fledgling research-intensive firms. In recent decades, numerous commercially successful technological innovations have originated with such firms. Many of these firms spend substantial sums on R&D during their first few years, despite experiencing large financial losses. For this reason, the legislation would create a new small business innovation credit by allowing firms with 500 employees or less to claim a new, refundable R&D credit.

Q: What Delaware businesses could benefit from this proposal?

Delaware firms, both small and large, that invest significantly in R&D in the United States and create high-paying jobs associated with that R&D stand to benefit the most from this legislation. Delaware’s agricultural, biotech, chemical, energy and manufacturing sectors rely on the R&D tax credit to grow and create jobs.

Q: There are a number of energy tax incentives in place, why are the two energy incentives so important to Delaware?

It is important to send a longer more certain signal if we are going to reduce our dependence on fossil resources by producing clean energy in the U.S. The renewable energy production and advanced energy manufacturing tax credits were critical to keeping clean energy projects and jobs in place in the last several years. The incentives for in the Act work in tandem to send that signal.

During the meltdown, the tax equity market was frozen which threatened to sideline thousands of renewable projects. Through the Treasury Grants Program for renewables, Delaware companies have been able to support dozens of solar and wind projects. At the same time, Senator Coons wants the U.S. to be a leader in sourcing products for renewable energy from domestic manufacturers. Thus, the advanced energy manufacturing credit supports a range of clean tech manufacturing projects such as building materials, wind turbine towers and blades, solar equipment, batteries and many other clean tech projects.